Ford is really building on its EV performance branding. First came a new Pikes Peak car in the Super Mustang Mach-E, then Ford took SuperVan 4.2 to the Nürburgring for an ultra-fast run of 6: 48.393 just a few weeks ago. Now it is time for the SuperTruck to break a record out at the Green Hell. While things didn’t go as smoothly as the SuperVan run, the prototype high-performance F-150 Lightning achieved a record, nonetheless.
Things started out OK, with Romain Dumas behind the wheel of the Ford F-150 SuperTruck, but by the time he gets through Kottenbom—the first long straight of the Nordschleife—it becomes obvious the SuperTruck has a hindrance: It can only flirt with a top speed of 162.80 mph. “In any EV that runs the Nürburgring,” said a Ford spokesperson, “there is a trade-off between available energy, vehicle and system weight, and performance and is one that needs to be managed.”
This is a similar top speed we did see out of SuperVan during its Nürburgring run, so this must be a common integration that Ford uses between the two Super EVs. You’ll also notice during that long run that both the digital dashboard and the display in the steering wheel are blurred out. While we understand Ford is doing this during a race weekend with its Mustang GT3, this isn’t a competition. Even so, Ford still has data it doesn’t want to get out in the wild and, again, something we saw with SuperVan. It is a shame, as it would be interesting to see what is going on under the bodywork.
Speaking of, there are some changes between the first time we saw SuperTruck at Pikes Peak in 2024, its run at Goodwood a month ago, and this run at Nürburgring. The aerodynamic features are changed to better suit the sea level atmosphere versus the 14,000 feet of Pikes, the tune of the motors is adjusted for that change, and even final drive ratios of the motor outputs are different to make SuperTruck perform as Romain Dumas and the Ford Performance team are all looking for in this record setting run. Dumas certainly makes this run look fairly easy. Sure, he’s moving the wheel quickly to adjust the line to the power and grip available, but it doesn’t look like an abnormal affair.
That is until it starts running down